Rihanna’s latest album ANTI has got me feeling some type of way…It’s raw, heavy, and personal. This album has a very different feel to it than any of her other albums. I like it because it’s obscure and unfamiliar, like exploring new sake for the first time.

My career and life is centered around wine. I am constantly tasting wine for work and education and sometimes I just want to try something else. Sake has been this new and exciting romance I runaway to when I’m away from wine. My lack of experience and knowledge of sake, attracts me and draws my interest in even more. Stimulating and enlightening, it almost feels like I’m learning about wine again for the first time.

Wine will always be my love, but for now I’m enjoying sake for what it is, my sweet, exotic escape.

Sake 101

Sake is made from steamed, fermented rice. The brewing process starts in the fall, when the rice is harvested. The rice ismilled to rid the outer layers of the grain and expose the starchy center inside. The rice is then washed, soaked, and steamed. Aspergillus oryzae mold known as koji-kin is introduced into the steamed rice. The koji-kin converts rice starch into fermentable sugars.Once the koji is established, sake brewers create ayeast starter by adding yeast to a small batch of rice, koji, and water. Increasing amounts of rice, koji, water, and yeast are gradually added to the fermenting tank. Sake is the only beverage that undergoes Multiple Parallel Fermentation where starch is being converted into sugar while sugar is simultaneously being converted into alcohol.

Explore

Listen to these new tracks from Rihanna and dive freely into the possibility of a new found love for sake.

Dassai Otter Fest 23 Jumai Daiginjo $106 Melon, dried pineapple, pear, custard, brown sugar, fleshy plums, minerality, white flowers. This sake has been milled to 23% and is in a class by itself. Dassai is a clean and luscious Daiginjo full of complex flavors and aromas with a deep and layered structure.

Seven Spearsmen Shichi Hon Yari Junmai $98 Banana, truffle, mango, bubble gum. This is a weighty sake with a plump and viscous mouth feel. There is an elegance that comes from the “shizuku” technique (drip-pressed) and lends to a luxurious experience.

Kubota Senju Ginjo “1000 Long Lives” $29 Minerality, nutmeg, ripe plum, banana cream pie, caramel, cotton candy, cocoa. This has great acidity and an unmistakable aftertaste that revisits the cotton candy elements. Clean and clear this honjozo gives one a good impression of a layered sake.